Staff whose work requires or potentially could require any in-person interaction with Save the Children colleagues, partners, or beneficiaries must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless otherwise required by law. Save the Children complies with federal, state, and local laws with regard to accommodations related to this policy.

Summary

Save the Children’s U.S. Programs (USP) division is committed to ensuring that all children in rural America have a healthy, strong foundation to thrive as learners and in life. Our goals are to increase kindergarten readiness and grade-level literacy and math proficiency for children in under-resourced rural communities.

Save the Children is seeking a State Director, California. As the senior staff member on the state team, you will lead the development and execution of effective programs, advocacy and fundraising strategies. You will oversee business operations and partnership management and serve as the primary external representative of Save the Children’s work in the state.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

Increase kindergarten readiness and grade-level reading and math proficiency in the state’s high-need rural communities (30%)

• Direct the mobilization of communities, either through collective impact or community-based programs and services, to address other social and systemic barriers to achieving school readiness or proficiency outcomes.
• Monitors all Tier I mini grants, including needs assessments, selection of viable partners, monitoring of project deliverables, and reporting project outcomes back to Save the Children.
• Monitors all Tier II programs and services (e.g., early childhood and school-age) to guarantee they are implemented with fidelity to our program models, ensuring partner needs are assessed annually, services are customized for the target population, training and technical assistance is effective and responsive, and improvements to program quality as well as data management are made, as needed.
• Oversee inception and completion of Hunger Free Communities model pilot in the state, working in collaboration with Program Design as well as Monitoring & Evaluation teams to inform model design as needed, set deliverables, monitor completion of outputs, and support data safeguarding practices.
• Accountable for achieving deliverables across multiple projects concurrently as necessary, annual program goals, and long-term strategic objectives for the state as determined by Save the Children and/or required by grants or donors.

Expand Save the Children’s reach, recognition and impact in the state (45%)

• Responsible for developing annual and long-term state strategies; conducting state-level analysis, defining opportunities and risks, facilitating integration of cross-functional supports, setting specific and measurable goals, and facilitating periodic reviews of achievements and performance.
• Manage the state-wide program partner portfolio; identifying target communities and program populations, ensuring excellent relationship and subaward management, reviewing annually to align presence with need, and making investment/divestment decisions as needed.
• Educate and motivate key stakeholders to actively improve children’s education, health and wellbeing in the state; identifying partners, networks and coalitions to align contributions, scale best practices, and increase awareness and support of shared initiatives.
• Inform and execute fundraising activities in partnership with division and agency fundraising teams; co-developing strategies for acquiring funds or gifts-in-kind, prospecting for opportunities, cultivating donor relationships, and supporting the development of proposals and reports.
• Collaborate with the policy and advocacy team to advance the Save the Children’s work in the state; building relationships with key public stakeholders, influencing state and local resource allocations, mobilizing for statewide advocacy, and advising on strategies to influence legislation.

Lead a high-performing team that operates with excellence (25%)

• Plan, monitor and manage overall state operations and projects from initiation through completion; overseeing project planning, state budgeting and spending, subaward management, GIK processing and staff resourcing.
• Responsible for overseeing the execution all business continuity and safety and security protocols for the state staff and programs including, identifying and characterizing potential risks, safeguarding facilities and assets, ensuring 100% completion of staff and partner trainings, supporting response and resolution of reported incidents, and routinely updating plans as required by SCUS.
• Ensure that Save the Children’s work is safe for children and adults by promoting awareness and prevention to mitigate the risk of, or actual, harm that may come by representatives across all programming, operations, campaigns, and activities.
• Serves as team lead for the state, responsible for establishing a healthy workplace culture and setting the team pace and direction; promoting staff development, engagement and well-being while holding supervisors and staff accountable for achieving results, demonstrating the organization’s core values, and operating within our ethical standards.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant experience required, plus at least seven years of relevant experience
• Professional proficiency in MS Office suite
• Professional proficiency in spoken and written English
• Demonstrated ability to work with limited supervision over time and make decisions effectively.
• Demonstrated ability to organize self and team with key work priorities in mind.
• Demonstrated ability to problem-solve effectively in a team environment and manage multiple projects successfully at the same time.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with individuals and teams at all levels, both internally and externally
• Demonstrated commitment to fostering and maintaining an environment of diversity, inclusion, and belonging.
• Demonstrated ability to engage and influence a wide range of external stakeholders including program partners, coalitions, celebrities/influencers, bureaucrats and elected officials.
• Experience developing funding proposals and reports and managing a large and complex grant portfolio.
• Experience managing professional staff.
• Willingness and ability to travel within the state up to 35% of the time.

This position may require the incumbent to operate a motor vehicle to fulfill certain essential functions of the job.  The incumbent should maintain a valid driver’s license and remain in compliance with any Save the Children policies pertaining to the safe operation of motor vehicles.

Compensation

Save the Children is offering the following salary range for this position:

• Geo 1- NY Metro, DC, and other locations with labor costs significantly above national average: Target Salary for this position is $108,800 – $121,600 base salary.

• Geo 2-Locations around the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $98,600 – $110,200 base salary.

• Geo 3-Locations significantly below the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $88,400 – $98,800 base salary.

Actual base salary may vary based upon, but not limited to, relevant experience, base salary of internal peers, business sector, and geographic location (more information on job structure is available here). Employee may be eligible for an incentive program.  Save the Children also offers paid vacation, accrued at least 12 days a year, depending on paygrade and length of service, paid safety and wellness leave of at least 1 day per month worked for a full time employee which is pro rata reduced for employees working less than a full time schedule, and at least 10 paid holidays a year. Employees may be eligible for additional bonus compensation. Save the Children US also offers outstanding benefits that include health, dental, vision and life insurances, short-term and long-term disability coverage, an Employee Assistance Program, a retirement savings plan with employer contribution, family leave, paid parental/adoption leave of 60 days, commuter benefits, paid caregiver leave days, 1 paid volunteer day a year, paid critical child illness leave days, dress for your day, and much more.

Why you should join the Save the Children Team…  

Save the Children US offers outstanding benefits that include health, dental, vision and life insurances, pet insurance, short-term and long-term disability coverage, an Employee Assistance Program, 403(b), generous vacation, personal sick leave, family leave, parental/adoption leave, commuter benefits, dress for your day, and much more. 

Click here to learn more about how Save the Children US will invest in YOU!

About Save the Children

No matter your role when you join Save the Children, each and every day you will challenge yourself to devote your skills, talent and expertise to changing the world for kids. It’s an ambitious goal, and a meaningful one no matter how you see yourself professionally: an accountant, a writer, a data analyst, a teacher, a driver, a designer, or any one of the hundreds of dozens of roles we’re looking to fill every day.

You see, Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Our work for children and their families requires that we commit—at every opportunity—to work together to identify and dismantle persistent systemic and structural racism, inequality, and any other forms of discrimination in this country and beyond.  As an anti-racist organization, Save the Children will not tolerate discrimination in any form—in our employment practices, amongst our staff, in our leadership or toward the people we serve. We stand in solidarity with all people to fight for equal rights, justice, inclusion, and belonging.

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse. In addition, it is Save the Children’s policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation.

Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all.